German player Andrea Petkovic, fresh off her victory over world number one Caroline Wozniacki, lost the first set 6-2 against the 6th seeded Jankovic before she started ripping balls into the corners to go up 3-0 in the 2nd. Jankovic appeared to have a slight mental lapse after the first set and called her coach over at 3-0 to try to steady her play. With several rain delays, the players came on and off the court two times before finally finishing the match. They saved their best tennis for the third set, where the rallies on countless occasions were a dozen or more, and at times twenty or more exchanges.
Petkovic drew on her confidence from yesterday’s win over No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. “I’ve just always believed in myself. I always believed that I can beat those top players. It was always just a matter of time,” Petkovic said.
The turning point was at 4-4 in the third set, with Petkovic serving. She was down 0-40 on her serve, only to dig deep down and rally back, hitting a repertoire of powerful ground strokes and finesse drop-shots. Jankovic remained poised and held off a match point and countless long rallies. It was another long deuce game that ended with Jankovic’s ball flying out and Petkovic throwing her arms in the air, winning 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. Petkovic will continue this magical Miami run by facing Sharapova, who won her marathon match against Alexandra Dulgheru, 3-6 7-6(6) 7-6(5).
Ivanovic and Clijsters had a match that neither will forget for quite some time. Clijsters squeaked out the first set 7-6 (4). Ivanovic came back strong in the second set, getting the early break and rolling to a 6-3 2nd set. She took her second set momentum and quickly got up 5-1 and up 0-40 on Clijsters’ serve. Clijsters fought off four of Ivanovic’s five match points in that game, and fought back to a 5-5 tie. The fifth match point came during Kim’s next service game, but Ana could not capitalize.
Many times throughout the set you could see Ivanovic already tasting victory. Unfortunately for her, it never came to fruition. The momentum had most certainly shifted after Ana did not close out the match at 5-1. Kim’s focus stayed on each point, she never seemed to get rattled by the score, or the immense hole she had to dig herself out of. She maintained her game and continued to rip the heavy balls around the court and kept her unforced errors to a minimum. Kim forced a tie breaker and finally closed out the match 7-6 (5) in the third set.
The silver lining: Ana showed that she can still play at a level that got her to number one in the world. She’ll just need to close out the big matches to get over the hump, and return to the promised land.
